WEF Collection Systems CommitteeMember Association Exchange

June 2008

Contact Information

If you would like to communicate with your fellow Member Associations, to ask for advice or share knowledge, just reply to this e-mail and your question/comment will reach all Member Association Collections Systems Chairs and Co-Chairs across North America. Let's work together.

Member Association News

Water Environment Association of Utah (WEAU)

The WEAU folks know how to have fun. In addition to hosting two annual golf tournaments, they also conduct a “Giant Pumpkin Contest” to see who can grow the largest pumpkin (using biosolids, of course). Seeds are provided and prizes awarded in the fall. Their Collections Committee sponsors a “Most Unusual Find Contest” where a cash prize is awarded to the most unusual items found in a collection system or treatment plant. WEAU subsidizes an annual “Fun Night” which provides an inexpensive opportunity for WEAU members, family and friends to enjoy a professional sporting event. This very popular idea includes a picnic-type dinner. It is no wonder that WEAU’s membership grew by 26% this past year due to all the people wanting to join the fun.

Check out the attached Fact Sheet on WEAU, or go to www.weau.org for more information.

Arizona Water and Pollution Control Association (AWPCA)

· AWPCA was an advocate for the recent AZ Warn agreement signed by the cities of Phoenix, Tucson and Tempe. Like in other States, AZ Warn is a mutual aid agreement between utilities to provide assistance during catastrophic disasters.

· They established a research committee to raise $10,000 per year to contribute to the Governor’s Arizona Water Institute (AWI). Because of their monetary sponsorship, AWPCA has a voice in the water research conducted by the three universities that constitute the AWI.

· AWPCA is in the process of changing their name to “AZ Water Association”.

WEF News

Collection Systems Specialty Conference 2008

Pittsburgh Specialty Conference an Unqualified Success!A record attendance was set May 18-22, 2008, with over 600 collection systems professionals participating in this year’s Specialty Conference in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. The local organizations of ALCOSAN, 3 Rivers Wet Weather and Pittsburgh Water & Sewer Authority hosted a strong technical program that featured a number of excellent papers on regional systems and the challenges faced when addressing CSO, SSO and O&M issues. Attendees were treated to a special cruise along the confluence of the three rivers that form the center of Pittsburgh’s long and storied history. Be sure to make plans for next year’s conference in Louisville, April 19-22, 2009!

The 2009 Specialty Conference Committee is soliciting abstracts that focus on national collection system issues. Abstracts are also being solicited for several sessions on wet weather challenges in the Ohio River Valley and Midwest with outcomes or lessons learned that could be applied to national issues. System operations and specific project related experiences and case studies will be used to illustrate a range of collection system solutions and planning tools.

The following list of abstract categories and themes are offered as guidelines: (Please review the detailed call for more information on these general topics.)

Technical News

EPA's CMOM regulatory compliance issues have been given a "second life" throughout the country as a set of Management and Administrative Practices that incorporate all aspects of proactive Collection System Operation and Maintenance. Applications of these Asset Management Principles and Tools will be presented in this webcast via case studies across the nation and discussions involving CMOM-related topics such as Buried Infrastructure Management, Risk Assessment, Standardization and Prioritization. A discussion of the origin and evolvement / growth of the EPA-funded "Buried Asset Management Institute-International" (BAMI-I), located at Purdue University, Indianapolis, IN, will also be presented.

Did You Know?

The WEF CSC Yahoo users group functions as a technical forum for members. If you have a technical question that you would like to put to Collections Systems leaders across North America, contact your local WEF CSC member and ask them to post it. After using this feature, a member recently reported:

“We received incredible response from our request in February for assisting a city in setting up an in-house CCTV program. I have been in the committee for some time and knew that it was comprised of a lot of dedicated people but the response was way beyond my expectations.Thanks to everyone who responded with some of the most detailed info imaginable.”